Magazine & Events

Yamanomura, where there are seven villages in the Hida mountain area, has an elevation of 1000 meters. The area is 4.5 km by mountain road from the town of Kamioka. It takes two hours to reach from Takayama City by car. The population is about 150 people. It’s a small town and it is not easy to visit, especially during winter.

‘Hana-mochi’ have long been made for New Year’s in the Hida area. ‘Hana’ means flower and ‘mochi’ means rice-cake, so a ‘hana-mochi’ is a decoration that is like a flower made out of rice-cake. In col…

The Hida area is surrounded by mountains. People here have long used trees for architecture, furniture, wood carvings, floats for local festivals, Buddha sculptures, etc. Techniques for the treatment of wood in the Hida area are so highly developed that in Japan carpenters are referred to as ‘Hida-no-takumi’, ‘takumi’ meaning specialists in woodworking.

Traditionally known as one of the “Three Sacred Treasures” (the other two being the “sumi-tsubo” and “sashi-gane”) for the Japanese woodwork builders, the Chouna is a unique tool used since ancient ti…

As a country that sits on top of the Pacific Rim, Japan has countless public baths. In the past, there were public baths called “sento” in the towns as private baths in the homes were rare in those da…